Monuments

The inestimable artistic and historical value of the monuments of the Athenian Acropolis, that unique group of buildings created by the Greeks when they reached the height of their civilisation during the 5th century B.C., is recognised by the whole world. The monumnets of the Acropolis were erected by the Athenian state as an expression of devotion to Athena, the patron goddess of the city, thirty years after the burning and razing of the city’s sanctuary during the Persian wars. At a unique conjuncture of favourable circumstances, Perikles, a charismatic Athenian politician, assumed the ambitious planning of its reconstruction.

The four incomparably beautiful buildings that were constructed at that time on the Acropolis rock, the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike, expressed the artistic resolution of a city that had acquired not only the leadership of Greece but the cultural supremacy of all antiquity. Built entirely of white marble, with their inspired design, these buildings became objects of great admiration even in antiquity and deeply influenced the architectural monuments to follow.

This is why they must be preserved as historical evidence and handed down to coming generations in the best possible condition. The Sacred Rock of the Acropolis of Athens, a natural beacon of Athenian topography, through all its constant changes (place of habitation, sanctuary, fortress, etc.), directly connected with its crucial role in the historical course of Athens, is a point of reference for Greek history and a symbol of modern Greece.